Today’s episode is about one time-tested way to break down your own communication so you can make the most of it. It’s been around for thousands of years, and we’re rebroadcasting this episode because I’ll be using this approach soon at a talk at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health and the Region 2 Public Health Training Center on writing for the public and health literacy. The episode focuses on spoken communication, but it’s useful for all kinds of communication. Head over to Health Communication Partners to check out this free webinar, courtesy of Columbia and the Region 2 Public Health Training Center.

Before we go back in time to Ancient Greece, I have a big announcement. Over the years as I’ve been talking with health professionals about communication, I’ve been asked more than once: do you have an app? I’m proud to say that now, the answer is YES! Health Communication Partners has an app! It lets you practice communication right in your phone. We collaborate with you to customize it for your situation. Whatever your conversation is. I’m so excited to share this with you so hit me up on Twitter or linkedin, or just visit Health Communication Partners.com and click on the banner!

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You know communication is important. Study after study show the influence of provider-patient communication on patient satisfaction, compliance, and clinical outcomes. Whether it’s medical interviewing or patient education; building relationships or making shared decisions–getting a grip on your spoken communication is essential. So I’m going to show you how. With some help from Aristotle. What I’m sharing here is based in classical rhetoric, we’re talking ancient Greece, with some more modern approaches layered on.

But why Aristotle? In 2014, the editor of the journal Developmental Medicine and Child Neurology argued that Classical rhetoric could promote “excellence in reasoning and in communication with the patient” and that physicians could “utilize a range of devices that have been identified, classified and refined since Greek antiquity under the discipline of rhetoric.”

Using classical rhetoric also been suggested by one study as promoting women-centered midwifery care. You probably experienced the formalized communication associated with classical rhetoric in your medical education, through the oral case presentation. Classical rhetoric has also been used as the analytic tool in four recent health care studies, links to these in the show notes:

Of course there are limitations, adaptations, and criticisms of classical rhetoric. I deal with some of these by layering in some critical discourse analysis, for its attention to interpersonal interactions and communication. I also include some New Literacy Studies for its attention to context and modality. So let’s get to it.

You may have seen something called the ‘rhetorical triangle.’ This is typically the three elements first identified by Aristotle as central to spoken communication: audience, speaker, message. These three elements, Aristotle argued, are the basis of a formal conversation. Frequently, that triangle is pictured with a circle around it. That circle portrays context, and mode. Can you picture a triangle, with a circle around it? Good. That’s what we’re talking about today. If you want a graphic there’s one on the website but it’s so simple you could draw it yourself. Or just google rhetorical triangle.

We’ve got speaker, audience, message, context and mode. Briefly, here’s what each of those means.

Speaker

Who’s doing the ‘producing’ i.e. talking, writing

Audience

Who’s doing the ‘consuming’ i.e. listening, reading, viewing

Message

The meaning or purpose of the communication

Context

There are many contexts around any given communication. Time and space, also: cultural, economic, political, social, emotional, linguistic, etc.

Mode

The way meaning is communicated. Speech, written text, graphics, video, signs, etc. Any combination of modes is called ‘multimodal’

To keep it easy today, we’re going to consider the ‘mode’ as speech. So we’re talking about conversations. But this works for all modes as well as multimodal texts. Each of these 5 elements matters in communication, separately and together. These work because it’s so simple. You think of these 5 elements, you can break down any spoken communication. I’ll show you how.

First, pay attention to someone else. An easy way to begin to see how these 5 rhetorical elements work is to focus on someone else’s communication. I would suggest someone famous who does talking for a living. The next time you listen to a radio personality, someone on a talk show, news anchor, your favorite podcaster, think of the 5 elements. Speaker, audience, message, context, mode.

Then, try out these questions:

Who does this speaker think he/she is? How does their language reveal this?

Who do they think you are? How can you tell through their language?

What do you think their central message is? What did they say that reveals this?

What is their attitude toward a particular context they’re in? How can you tell? (Time can be an easy one to spot, or the political/economic/social climate).

Thinking about these questions gives you a sense how these 5 elements can help you break down a spoken communication.

Now, it’s your turn! Those questions we just asked about someone else? I’m offering you a way to ask them of yourself. This draws your attention to how your language is shaped by your thoughts. Your thoughts about yourself, your patient, your message, and your contexts. So you can say what you mean, and mean what you say. We all think we’re being clear: this is a way to check in on that. The next time you are about to speak to a patient, consider these questions:

What kind of a person am I trying to be? How is my language reflecting this?

What kind of a person do I think my patient is? How is my language reflecting this?

What is my central message today? What am I assuming is most important in that message? How is my language reflecting this?

What contexts am I paying attention to? Which am I considering very important, which not so important? How is my language reflecting this?

This quick sort of mental checklist allows you to assess the most important factors of any communication, even during or after your conversation. The focus is on becoming aware of your language in relation to each of the most important factors. (audience, speaker, message, context, mode. right now we’re considering ‘mode’ to be speech.)

This is a case where knowing more about language can help you do better with language. And increase the chances your words will have the desired effect. Assessing in the moment is something you all do. This mental checklist, designed to help you assess your own language, is applying tools that have been used for over 2500 years.

Communication is about more than imparting information. You’re also hoping to show yourself as a particular kind of person. You seek to influence people (though not in a creepy manipulative way). You also use language to build and maintain good relationships. This is one mostly-ancient way to consider separately the interconnected elements of spoken language. By looking at each, individually, you can see where you are–and aren’t–living up to your own goals for your language use. Consider engaging some trusted colleagues in looking at your language use together. Share with each other–and with us, here in the comments–what you’re learning about getting a grip on your language. With Aristotle.

Now, If you’re listening on itunes, it would be a big help if you’d do the rate and review. Leave stars, write something in the box. I read them! On health communication partners.com, leave a comment and let us know what you think. I’m Dr. Anne Marie Liebel. This has been “10 Minutes to Better Patient Communication”

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"Dr. Liebel's holistic approach to addressing patient communication is groundbreaking. It gets those of us in the medical community thinking in terms of bi-directional communications. And remembering that all patients are already experts in how their bodies feel, even if they don't understand all the complex details of how it works."

Dr. Carole Hutchinson, Mailman School of Public Health, Columbia University